Services

Court martial recommends dismissal of woman Army officer

TNN | Updated: Jul 12, 2009, 0:28 IST

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The court-martial against Captain Poonam Kaur, who had levelled charges of `physical and mental torture' against three of her senior officers last year, has ordered that she be dismissed from service. (Watch)The GCM (general court martial) against Capt Kaur, held at the 5 Armoured Regiment HQ in Patiala, on Friday found her `guilty' on seven of 10 charges, including levelling false allegations against senior officers, disobedience and violation of orders, among others.The GCM verdict will, however, have to be `confirmed' by `superior competent authorities' for Poonam Kaur to be actually dismissed. She can, of course, appeal against the verdict in a high court or even the new Armed Forces Tribunal, and ultimately the Supreme Court.Incidentally, Flying Officer Anjali Gupta of IAF was the first woman officer in 2005 to be court-martialled and dismissed from service for insubordination and indiscipline, ever since women began to be inducted into the armed forces in the early-1990s. Capt Kaur's case is apparently the first such one in the Army.Her lawyer S K Agarwal said it was certainly the first case in the Army wherein `a victim' had been turned into `an accused'. "She was systematically victimised by Army,'' he said, adding that 11 of the original 21 charges against her client had been dropped.Posted at the ASC (Army Service Corps) battalion at Kalka in Haryana since October 2007, Capt Kaur had in July last year alleged that she was being physically and mentally harassed by her commanding officer Col R K Sharma, his second-in-command Lt Col Ajay Chawla and adjutant Major Suraj Bhan, apart from being illegally placed under house arrest.The Army, however, had dubbed her allegations as "baseless'', holding that she had a track-record of disobeying orders. Capt Kaur had refused to carry out her assigned duties on several occasions, and had alleged mental harassment on being questioned about them, it added. Defence minister A K Antony himself had ordered an inquiry into the matter to establish the truth.The GCM against Capt Kaur was headed by the commanding officer of an artillery unit, Col Sanjeev Kochhar, with Capt Rajni Sharma from the Chandimandir-based Western Army Command appearing for the prosecution as the JAG (judge advocate general) in the military trial.Capt Kaur's father, an ex-serviceman currently working with the military engineering service branch, told TOI that they would first analyse the GCM findings and then think about appealing against its verdict.The case once again highlights that the experience of inducting women as officers in the armed forces since the early-1990s has been largely uneven.Women officers, for instance, often complain of a condescending attitude from their colleagues and seniors in the predominantly male environs of the forces.Many among the military top brass, however, privately complain of serious operational, practical and cultural problems in having women among their ranks.

At present, women constitute barely 2.5% to 6% of the officer cadre if the medical stream is excluded. There are just 1,100 women in Army out of a total of 35,400 officers; 700 women out of 10,800 officers in IAF; and 180 women out of 7,400 officers in Navy.Till recently, women officers could only serve for a maximum of 14 years in uniform. The defence ministry recently approved permanent commission for women officers but only in the legal and education wings of Army, Navy and IAF, which involve no command of men or battalions.